Abstract: A non-cellular wireless entertainment phone device may have at least two modes of operation. Each of the modes of operation may have a particular set of functionality. A first set of functionality may allow phone communications through a cellular phone, a wireless device, or the Internet. Additional functionality may transform the device into an entertainment device/child's toy or other types of devices such as a remote control, game controller, two-way radio transceiver, motion sensor, etc. A control signal may be sent from another device to cause a switching between modes.

Abstract: A method for presenting additional content for a word that is part of a message, and that is presented by a mobile communication device, includes the steps of: presenting the message, including emphasizing one or more words for which respective additional content is available for presenting by the mobile communication device; receiving an utterance that includes an emphasized word for which additional content is available for presenting by the mobile communication device; and presenting the additional content for the emphasized word included in the utterance received by the mobile communication device. These steps are performed by the mobile communication device.

Abstract: A method is provided of providing cues from am electronic communication device to a user while capturing an utterance. A plurality of cues associated with the user utterance are provided by the device to the user in at least near real-time. For each of a plurality of portions of the utterance, data representative of the respective portion of the user utterance is communicated from the electronic communication device to a remote electronic device. In response to this communication, data, representative of at least one parameter associated with the respective portion of the user utterance, is received at the electronic communication device. The electronic communication device provides one or more cues to the user based on the at least parameter. At least one of the cues is provided by the electronic communication device to the user prior to completion of the step of capturing the user utterance.

Abstract: A method of utilizing metadata stored in a computer-readable medium to assist in the conversion of an audio stream to a text stream. The method compares personally identifiable data, such as a user's electronic address book and/or Caller/Recipient ID information (in the case of processing voice mail to text), to the n-best results generated by a speech recognition engine for each word that is output by the engine. A goal of this comparison is to correct a possible misrecognition of a spoken proper noun such as a name or company with its proper textual form or a spoken phone number to correctly formatted phone number with Arabic numerals to improve the overall accuracy of the output of the voice recognition system.

Abstract: A method for facilitating the updating of a language model includes receiving, at a client device, via a microphone, an audio message corresponding to speech of a user; communicating the audio message to a first remote server; receiving, that the client device, a result, transcribed at the first remote server using an automatic speech recognition system (“ASR”), from the audio message; receiving, at the client device from the user, an affirmation of the result; storing, at the client device, the result in association with an identifier corresponding to the audio message; and communicating, to a second remote server, the stored result together with the identifier.

Abstract: A communication system includes at least one transmitting device and at least one receiving device, one or more network systems for connecting the transmitting device to the receiving device, and an automatic speech recognition (“ASR”) system, including an ASR engine. A user speaks an utterance into the transmitting device, and the recorded speech audio is sent to the ASR engine. The ASR engine returns intermediate transcription results to the transmitting device, which displays the intermediate transcription results in real-time to the user. The intermediate transcription results are also correlated by utterance fragment to final transcription results and displayed to the user. The user may use the information thus presented to make decisions as to whether to edit the final transcription results or to speak the utterance again, thereby repeating the process. The intermediate transcription results may also be used by the user to edit the final transcription results.

Abstract: A transmission device such as a cell phone or other mobile communication device includes a physical phenomenon detection device to perform a “push to talk” function by detecting the occurrence of a particular physical phenomenon and using such detection to start and stop recording an utterance for subsequent analysis by a speech recognition engine. A method of controlling operation of a speech recognition engine in response to detection of a physical phenomenon includes detecting or sensing, via a physical phenomenon detection unit, a predetermined physical phenomenon representative of an intent to invoke operation of a speech recognition engine. In response to the detection or sensing of the predetermined physical phenomenon, a signal is transmitted to a control unit in a communication device.

Abstract: A system and method of validating an advertisement presented to an advertisement recipient via a mobile communication device includes presenting an advertisement for a product or service to a recipient via a mobile communication device, monitoring the geospatial location of the mobile communication device relative to some predetermined criteria, and inferring information about the reaction of the advertisement recipient to the advertisement on the basis of the monitored geospatial location information.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and software for converting the audio input of a user of a hand-held client device or mobile phone into a textual representation by means of a backend server accessed by the device through a communications network. The text is then inserted into or used by an application of the client device to send a text message, instant message, email, or to insert a request into a web-based application or service. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of initializing or launching the application on the device; recording and transmitting the recorded audio message from the client device to the backend server through a client-server communication protocol; converting the transmitted audio message into the textual representation in the backend server; and sending the converted text message back to the client device or forwarding it on to an alternate destination directly from the server.